Department for Education

Pupil Exclusions

lord laming: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the age of the youngest child to be excluded from school in England.

lord agnew of oulton: Good behaviour in schools is essential to ensure that all pupils can benefit from the opportunities provided by education. We trust headteachers to set and enforce good standards of behaviour in schools. No headteacher takes excluding a child lightly, and any exclusion is based on evidence of that child’s behaviour.The youngest children with permanent exclusions from state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools in England were aged 4 in 2016/17.As part of their approach, all schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. The policy should set out the behaviour expected of pupils; the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour; and rewards for good behaviour. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff and parents. There are no rules about the age at which pupils can be excluded. The department supports a headteacher’s use of exclusion where it is warranted, regardless of the age of the pupil.Data used to derive published exclusion statistics are collected via the school census and covers those settings in scope of the statutory guidance on exclusions. Data does not cover independent schools, sixth form colleges or further education colleges, all of which have separate exclusion procedures.

Arts: Curriculum

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that Ofsted's new criteria make their assessment of the role of the creative arts in the curriculum essential to educational establishments receiving a "good" report.

lord agnew of oulton: Ofsted is currently undertaking a consultation on its proposed new education inspection framework. The consultation runs until 5 April. Under its proposals, inspectors will assess the extent to which schools are providing a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils. Ofsted has proposed that the benchmark for coverage and content of a school’s curriculum should be the national curriculum, which includes the arts.

Special Educational Needs: Learning Disability

lord addington: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether those working in special educational needs in schools are currently required to hold the Assessment Practising Certificate or other relevant qualifications for the purposes of diagnosing dyslexia and specific learning difficulties.

lord agnew of oulton: Neither qualified teachers, nor special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCO), are required to hold the Assessment Practising Certificate. Every school is required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils that they support, including those with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, and are subject to the requirements of the statutory guidance, the ‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice: 0-25 Years’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25. In order for teachers to be awarded qualified teacher status, trainees must satisfy the teachers’ standards which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEN and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them: www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards. ‘A framework of core content for initial teacher training (ITT)’, published in July 2016 states that providers should ensure SEND training is integrated across the ITT programme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-government-response-to-carter-review. All maintained mainstream schools and nursery schools must designate a qualified teacher as the SENCO. Any SENCO appointed to the role after 1 September 2009, and who has not previously been the SENCO at that or any other relevant school for a total period of more than 12 months, is required to achieve a national award in special educational needs co-ordination (NASENCO). The NASENCO is a masters-level award, which covers all aspects of leading on SEND within schools and supporting children and young people with SEND.  The government has provided support to organisations, including the British Dyslexia Association, to produce a range of guidance to help teachers provide support to children and young people with dyslexia. In April 2018 the Whole School SEND consortium, led by the National Association for SEN, nasen, were awarded £3.4 million for 2018-2020 to deliver a programme of work to equip the school workforce to deliver high quality teaching across all types of SEND, including specific learning difficulties. The programme of work aims to help schools identify and meet SEND training needs.

Students: Visual Impairment

lord blunkett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what provision is made for students with visual impairments undertaking GCSE and A Level examinations to ensure that they have their chosen reading format available.

lord blunkett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers they have provided to the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation to monitor the consistency and accuracy of examination papers transcribed into other reading formats such as Braille.

lord agnew of oulton: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the noble Lord and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Children in Care: Food

baroness boycott: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money is allocated to food per day for children in care.

lord agnew of oulton: The information requested is not held centrally.The amount of money allocated to food for each child in care is for the placement provider or carer to determine.In 2017/18, local authorities spent a total of £8.83 billion on children’s social care services; however, the department does not request information on the proportion of this that was spent on food.

Department for Education: Billing

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government which sub-central public bodies associated with the Department for Education are within scope of Regulation 113 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 requiring contracting authorities to pay undisputed invoices within 30 days and to publish their payment performance online.

lord agnew of oulton: The Department for Education publishes prompt payment performance online (percentage of invoices paid within 5 days and within 30 days of receipt) on GOV.UK. This can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prompt-payment-data-for-dfe. The data covers:the Department for Education;the National College for Teaching and Leadership now known as Teaching Regulation Agency;the Standards and Testing Agency;the Education and Skills Funding Agency; andthe Office of the Children’s Commissioner.